World War Z review for Nintendo Switch

Platform: Nintendo Switch
Also on: PC, PS4, Xbox One
Publisher: Saber Interactive
Developer: Saber Interactive
Medium: Digital/Cartridge/Disc
Players: 1-4
Online: Yes
ESRB: M

To some extent, there?s nothing memorable about World War Z on the Switch. Dustin gave a fairly thorough breakdown of all there is to know about the game back when it first came out on PS4 and Xbox One a couple of years ago, and pretty much everything there was to be said about it was said then.

At the same time, though, that?s kind of impressive in and of itself. While I wouldn?t say that World War Z is the most graphically intensive game out there, it?s still a game that requires you to slaughter seemingly endless waves of zombies coming at you from all directions. Given that, you might think the Switch would struggle to show it all on the screen without there being some serious slowdown — and yet, it doesn?t. No matter how many zombies are scrambling up a wall, the game just keeps on chugging along.

Mind you, the end results aren?t always the prettiest looking. In fact, the game is downright ugly at times, and the zombie horde sometimes looks more like a blurry zombie blob. Still, it works, which is really all you could hope for.

What?s more, because it works, the combat feels awfully satisfying — though I think I approached the game very differently than most people. I know that the game is meant to be played as a squad, as Dustin noted, as a none-too-subtle take-off of Left 4 Dead; there?s certainly plenty of firepower at your disposal here, whether you want to blow the zombies up, set them on fire, or simply gun them all down. Personally, though, I took a great amount of joy in whacking away at the zombie hordes with my machete, relying on my (surprisingly competent) AI squadmates to shoot any of the excess monsters if their numbers got too great. It wasn?t an orthodox way to approach the threat, but it was still fun.

And that?s the key takeaway from World War Z on the Switch: it?s fun. It may not be the prettiest game, nor is it the most original, but when you?re mowing down row after row of zombies, it more than does the trick.

Saber Interactive provided us with a World War Z Switch code for review purposes.

Grade: B+